Mitsubishi UFJ intends to roll out a new payments platform for micropayments and Internet of Things applications using a blockchain network from Akamai.

MUFG says tests of the new platform, which is slated for delivery in 2019, demonstrate a capacity to process a million transactions per second and the ability to finalise transactions in less than 2 seconds.

The bank says there is also potential to further scale this processing ability, permitting the handling of 10 million transactions per second.

The network will likely undergo its first live test with the introduction next year of MUFG’s digital currency asset MUFG Coin. The currency, which is pegged 1:1 to the Japanese Yen, can be downloaded to smartphones and used for micropayments, P2P funds transfers and for online shopping.

The bank is understood to be planning a pilot trial early next year with around 100,000 account holders at a few select merchants in Tokyo.